FEATURES

06/04/10

In this episode: Billy Reeves tests his baking skills with VILLAGERS. Plus, previews of new releases from BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY, THE FALL, TO ROCOCO ROT, MALACHAI and a bona fide classic from THE TRIFFIDS. Click the Play button to listen.

31/03/10

John Sicolo (centre) welcomes a couple of young Monkeys to TJs back in 2006.

John Sicolo, or Johnny Sieco to his mates, was born in Newport south Wales to a father from the Seychelles and Welsh mother. One of eight kids, he joined the Merchant Navy soon after leaving school at the age of fifteen. He signed on as galley boy, learning the art of cooking, and quickly rose through the ranks to become the youngest Chief Steward sailing out of the Bristol Channel. During his twelve years in the Merchant Navy he circumnavigated the globe and visited many of the major port cities of the world.

When Johnny left the navy he returned to Newport and put his cooking skills to good use, opening a restaurant called the Pittsburgh Diner in 1971. Jugfuls of sangria where served with everything and slowly the food was replaced exclusively with alcohol and the place had a reputation where a good time could be had by all.

The diner became a nightclub, El Siecos, in the mid seventies. With his partner, the equally formidable, Trilby Tucker, running the club with him El Siecos became known as a rough and ready after hours drinking den.

I began regularly visiting the club around 1979 beginning what turned out to be a thirty year relationship with Johnny. A big, thick set, powerful man, he was extremely strong and he never needed to employ bouncers. Any trouble and Johnny would personally eject the culprits from the premises by appearing to tie their arms and legs behind their backs and rolling them out of the door. He seemed solid, indestructible. He even had a strict dress code and delighted in turning away well dressed business types and anyone with a tie.

What struck me was, from the outset, he remembered your name. He seemed to know everyone’s` name and took an interest in the people who visited the club. A warm welcome, good natured banter and a warning blow to the gut was par for the course and he quickly made me feel like a regular, which I duly became.

I, along with my brother Baz and some childhood friends, formed a band called The Abs around this time and began playing our own brand of fast punk with funny songs. Johnny and Trilby always took an interest in our band and when the Student`s Union (the only venue that would give us a gig) closed we approached John. He had no hesitation letting us play in his club that resembled a rock`n`roll version of the Bat Cave .

The deal was that we would organise the gig and he made the profit on the bar, simple. It stayed that way until the end and, when we couldn’t get a gig anywhere else, Johnny would always let us play. He always counted The Abs as one of his favourite bands and when interviewed for fanzines or newspapers would namecheck us. Unfortunately, because of his thick Newport accent, this was always interpreted as The Yaps so we unable to capitalise on the great man’s endorsement!

Around 1984 the club’s name had changed to TJ`s (Trilby and Johnny’s) and innovative promoters such as Simon Phillips of Cheap Sweaty Fun began bringing a succession of touring bands to Newport. Bands such as Hole, Nomeansno, No FX, The Lemonheads, The Offspring, Chuck Prophet, Green Day, Fugazi, Snuff, The Jesus Lizard, to name just a few, came to TJ`s. They gave us an education and Johnny provided the school. He would often stand in the middle of the mosh, like a demented, sweaty headmaster with a big grin on his face, making sure no one got hurt. If someone was becoming a little over enthusiastic they would receive a bop on the head and a look that said enjoy yourself but don’t spoil it for others. This always seems to have been taken in the way it was intended demonstrating a rare gift for communication that Johnny seemed to use so easily. He made TJ`s the safest place in town.

The bands all received the same warm welcome and benefited from Johnny’s culinary skills learnt in his navy days. He would often take bands to his house after the sound check where, along with Trilby and the kids, they would sit down to a family meal and made to feel they were in their home from home. All the while Johnny would be engaging in conversation with the band and he could talk with knowledge on an impressively wide range of subjects. After the gig, bands would often stay in his flat above the club. This was luxury for touring bands when the UK had the reputation of the least hospitable of European countries to play in.

The death of his beloved Trilby around 1995 seemed to leave him appearing a little lost but he carried on in the club among the noise and people that he loved. We became closer as the years rolled on and in 1997 my wife Wendy and I asked Johnny to be Godfather to our daughter Jess. He was chuffed to be asked but disapproved of the non religious family/rockabilly celebration / ceremony we held in our garden. “It`s what separates us from animals” he gruffed before leaving early to open the club for Muse to play that night.

When I heard we lost him I was gutted. I felt a large chunk of Newport life was gone forever and that one of the most important threads linking my past and present had snapped. John Sicolo`s funeral was held last week and over a thousand people attended, including The Mayor. Bikers followed the hearse as it stopped outside TJ`s to receive the salute from a few hundred bereft souls. At the church, Johnny`s coffin was draped in the Red Ensign and he had a Guard of Honour from old boys of the Merchant Navy who proudly carried flags and played The Last Post. Crowds were left outside in the rain as St Pauls was packed. After the ceremony, Newport City Centre came to a halt as Johnny was brought out of the church to the revving of the bikers and the sound of genuine spontaneous applause. The scene provided a feast for the eyes, ears and soul and reminded me of some of the life-changing gigs I`d seen because of the vision held by this special man who provided the venue and his own brand of philosophy.

Afterwards, the Wake was held in, where else, TJ`s. As I walked in, The Abs was being played through the PA and I felt an enormous sense of honour, pride and loss for a man who helped me and hundreds of others find a path in life.

As the future of the club hangs in the balance, it’s hard to see who could fill the giant, Johnny shaped gap that his passing has left. Time will tell.

23/03/10

Alex Chilton was a soul singer. The music of Alex Chilton and Big Star has a huge emotional depth to it that has resonated through the years, which is why he had, and still has, a huge influence on people who form rock’n’roll bands. Well, the good ones anyway. It’s also why he never sold too many records, because regular folks can’t take that kind of honesty. They prefer the fake to the real and the overdone to the understated. Alex Chilton was one of the givers. His life was a triumph for art, truth, singing and rock’n’roll music. I don’t go for that underachiever shit that the “journos” always go on about - the guy made three of the greatest albums of all time!!! What a fucking talent!

Let me tell you my Alex Chilton story. Indulge me, cos I’m a bit choked up here. In 1986 I released a record by the Replacements, called Boink!, on my label, Glass Records. It was a mini LP culled from some of their earlier releases but had an unreleased track called “Nowhere Is My Home” produced by Alex Chilton, which mightily impressed Nikki Sudden, who alongside his brother Epic Soundtracks, first turned me on to Alex’s music. Nikki and Epic are sadly no longer with us either. 6 years later I was working at Creation Records and I met Alex at Victoria Station straight off the Gatwick Express. Creation brought him over to London to talk about making a record. Me and Alan McGee took him out for a couple of drinks and had a real nice time. The next day Alex and myself went up to Glasgow together on the train for the weekend to record a hastily arranged session for BBC Radio Scotland with Teenage Fanclub. He told me some great stories, like taking acid for the first time with Dennis Wilson, and hanging out at Dennis’s place when Manson and “all those chicks” were around. I lapped all that stuff up. I love all those stories. He was damn good company. At the rehearsal for the Radio thing, Alex asked the band to play “Alcoholiday”, his favourite song from “Bandwagonesque”, which he then proceeded to sing, and yes he knew all the words. Imagine how you’d feel if Alex Chilton sang one of your songs, two feet away from your face. I tell you, walking into the Griffin, where all the Glasgow bands hung out, with Alex fuckin’ Chilton was totally genius. Cries of “No way!!” could be heard all the way up past the King’s Cafe to Sauchiehall Street. Well, for some reason or another that record never happened, and I think that it was a great disappointment to him, as indeed it was to me.

Alex, it was a pleasure and a privilege to know you for a brief time. You are the MAN and I remain, your fan. God bless.

David E Barker March 2010.

Here are some other stories and tributes from some of Alex’s friends and fans.

I feel lucky that with Teenage Fanclub we had the opportunity to work with Alex a few times and through that to fully realise what an amazing musician he was. I’d actually been reminiscing about working with Alex the day before I found out he’d died, remembering a radio session we recorded in ‘92 where, at his instigation of course, we worked on an instrumental version of a theme from the overture of Wagner’s Tannhauser. On the day I heard he’d died I went to a concert, the thought of which had prompted my reminiscence, where the Scottish Symphony Orchestra played the overture of Tannhauser. Of course, in my mind this was a beautiful little tribute to him, someone for whom the work of Wagner, Eddie Floyd, and Joe Meek were all part of the same thing. Alex was inspiring to me in terms of his songwriting, his eclecticism, his not just innovative but also accomplished musicianship, and all that allied with his disdain for sycophancy and bullshit. He was a great guy and I always enjoyed his company. Raymond McGinley, Teenage Fanclub

I was introduced to the music of Alex Chilton by Brian Taylor, guitarist in the first Pastels lineup. Brian, it's fair to say was not too impressed by many things, but Alex had found his favour, and he seemed to love everything from pop soul sides with the Box Tops through to raw but exciting productions for The Cramps and Tav Falco's Panther Burns. Me, I really liked Alex's voice and some of his songs; hearing September Gurls for the first time was unbelievably thrilling. Alex always seemed like someone who could move easily from era to era - 1960s, 1970s, 1980s. He was clever enough to keep moving and aware enough to usually have the right length of hair for the time. Eventually he started turning up in Glasgow thanks to super enthusiastic fans like Jason from V-Twin, and of course the Teenage Fanclub connection, which he knew was a good thing. I met him a couple of times and he seemed kind of there, not there. But somehow I expected this smart traveller to keep moving; moving through things and around them, to be here for ever or at least until he was 100. Not to be. It's like the feeling you get from listening to so many of his lovely, sad songs. Stephen Pastel, Glasgow. March 2010

We were in LA mixing an album and Alex is passing through town. He has a show at McCabes guitar shop and invites us down. Alex plays a great set and we hang out afterwards and drink beer. He tells us that he's going to be playing at a Beach Boys fanclub event the next evening and that we should “really” come down as it's going to be “very special”.

We make our way to a small theater in Santa Monic, once inside, us and the fifty other people there take our seats and watch The Beach Boys Hawaii concert movie along with a load of outtakes and rare and unseen clips. Next, we are treated to a set of Beach Boys tunes performed by a band that includes Brian Wilson producer Andy Paley, who are accompanying a number of guest singers. Alex does a great version of Solar System. The show builds to a climax and it seems that the night is over when unexpectedly, Rodney Bingenheimer appears at the front mic and announces that there is to be one more performance, and at that, Brian Wilson shuffles onstage and up to the piano. He sits down and self deprecatingly starts to play "I'm a little teapot" (with the handle and spout arm movements) before launching into "Do it again" and then "God only knows". We are at the front of the stage about five feet away from Brian, gobsmacked. This is his first public performance in a long time. He's fragile but brilliant. Alex is at the other side of the stage and looks over at us with an enormous grin on his face. Thanks for that Alex. What a treat.

Alex Chilton, was a great singer and performer and a much better songwriter than he would have you believe. He is man who told Charles Manson where to get off....but that's another story. Norman Blake, Teenage Fanclub

We did some west coast dates with Alex in 1988 around the time of High Priest. We were all mightily impressed at the Chilton Soundcheck, which involved parking his guitar and his amp on the stage before going straight back out of the venue again in search of good times. (It was a trick he repeated in London in the nineties, striking terror into the hearts of his "minders" by disappearing into the Streets of Fear around King's Cross.)

Then in 92 I ran into him in New Orleans. He wasn't supposed to be drinking, but he took me on a 2 night binge that ended up in a transvestite cowboy bar called "Roundup". It was only supposed to be a one night thing, but when I went out around town the next day I found him banging on the window of a bar that I was passing, beckoning me in for round two, as it were.

Of course, he was a proper Southern Gent, courteous and charming and prone to the occasional "Vietnam moment" where he would sort of glaze over and start muttering incomprehensibly at some unseen foe for a second before snapping back into your reality once again. Like a lot of southern people he had a genuine belief in astrology. Our birthdays were close together ("December boys got it bad") and he called me "the Jack of Hearts". Guess we all knew who the King was.

In New Orleans we went past this bar, which he told us was Muddy Waters' club. "I had some of the best nights of my life in there," he said. I figured he meant that he'd played some gigs there. "No," he replied, "I was the janitor."

That struck me as typical of him. He said that he only really rated three or four of his own songs and was much happier just being a singer, covering other people's stuff. For somebody who had done so much and meant so much to so many, he seemed almost entirely uncorrupted by any kind of "ego". Even after the Big Star revival of the nineties, he would still regularly turn up and play on old sixties revue packages in odd places like Canadian leisure centres.

I never heard him refer to Jody Stevens as anything other than simply "The Drummer". Once in London, Joe Foster was talking to him about the fact that there were Big Star tee shirts on sale; he was concerned that Alex was getting his fair cut of the proceeds. With consummate unconcern Alex told him "Aaaah, that was the Drummer's idea." Case closed.

Alex Chilton was the real thing. Raised in a house full of music in Memphis, he lived the true and proper rock and roll life all his life. I'm not sure that we shall ever see his like again. Pat Fish, The Jazz Butcher

09/03/10

Check out the all-new March 2010 edition of Dominocast hosted by Mr. Billy Reeves. This episode features an interview with GALAXIE 500. Plus, preview new releases from Eugene & The Lizards, Archie Bronson Outfit, Pavement, Four Tet, Wild Beasts, Galaxie 500, She & Him and Arctic Monkeys.

Dev Hynes returns with an epic collection of twelve pop songs, two instrumental intermissions and one piano étude, set for release on 15th February 2010.

Lightspeed’s early leaning towards American country dressings is traded here for a palette that draws on classical music and even musical theatre. Producer and mixer Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley) assembles the eclectic grab-bag of influences: joltingly ‘70s guitar and synth sounds, classical piano, Greek choruses shouting reprisals, and at least one ukelele-driven moment.

Song of the year: Cornerstone – Arctic Monkeys/Albums of the year: DPz Bitte Orca, AC’s Merriweather, AM’s Humbug, WBs Two Dancers, Cass M’s Catacombs, I don’t seem to have listened to much non-Domino music this year!

Gig of the year: The National at the RFH

Weekend of the year: Glastonbury – the Domino Teepee Experience, Animal Collective in The Park, Franz Ferdinand’s best gig ever , the sun shining after the rain!!

Party of the year: My folks’ 50th Wedding Anniversary do

Quotes of the year: "Belly, Belly, Belly, be honest is my nose on the side of my face?!"- “Suck my fat one, maaaaan!!”

Movies of the year: Up and Fish Tank

Band of the year: Wild Beasts

Cafes of the year: Nordic Bakery, Princi, Rick’s in Tooting, Bertie and Boo’s in Balham and Bea’s in Bloomsbury

Meal of the year: any at Vinoteca

Fave moment of the year: swimming off the rocks at Manarola/waking up on that amazing snow day in February

DAN PAPPS

Atlas Sound (feat. Laetitia Sadier) - Quick Canal (4AD)

Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo (Hot Flush)

Bibio - Lover's Carvings (Warp)

Kurt Vile - Freak Train (Matador)

Four Tet - Love Cry (Domino)

Wild Beasts - Two Dancers (I) (Domino)

Bowerbirds - Upper Air (Dead Oceans)

Zomby - Float (Werk Discs)

Hey Colossus / Dethscalator - Split (Riot Season)

Lots of Dave Eggers & Paul Auster books

CAROLINE BUTLER

Wild Beasts - Two Dancers / Hoxton Hall Show / Paris (2009, the year of the beasts!)

Animal Collective - Brother Sport (for pure ecstatic energy and a wonderful message about death & life and opening up!)

Wild Beasts - All The Kings Men - Banjo Or Freakout Remix (for its perfect autumnalness-hazy-reworking)

Oh.. and hearing we signed The Fall. Thats rather good too ;-)

CLARE MCKINNEY

1. Animal Collective three in one - Album "Merriweather Post Pavillion" Live at Koko in January and Brixton Academy in August and "Fall Be Kind" EP with the tremendous "What Would I Want Sky"

2. The Green Man festival - the sunniest Green Man, listening to the Ashes in the bar, Hawkwind headlining on Sunday, their roadie, and who can forget the wallet game?

3. Untold "I Can't Stop This Feeling / Anaconda" 12" on Hessle Audio (joint first for my label of the [aside from Domino of course] with Hemlock Recordings (I should mention James Blake here too), everything they've put out has tickled me)

4.Two new cocktails - Apple Martinis and Mint Juleps

5. Glastonbury Festival from the sail down in the converted Jag, teepee, the Animal Collective, Neil Young, and glorious weather, I cannot complain (well maybe could have done without needing to utilise my first aid skills on Jonny's nose/eye)

6. The Fall live show at Koko November 2009, best fall show in ages, new material, tight band, on form. Watch this space for Our Future Your Clutter in 2010

7. Home Game, a civilised festival, no tents in sight, blinding sets from the Fence folk in a town with the best fish & chips in the country, secret shows complete with cream tea, and a quick dip in the sea at midnight

8. Dancing with Bart to Optimo DJ's in a warehouse in Shoreditch feel the laser burn

9. Dirty Projectors at the Black Box in Belfast, first time I saw them live, and it blew me away. Their Album "Bitte Orca" deserves to be in this top ten too

10. Tanki Tanki - edit of a Lebanese punk/new wave band from the 80's recorded to tape. Bonkers and banging.

DONNA VERGIER

Franz Ferdinand playing live (in a fountain) in Valencia for 35,000 people.

Animal Collective at the Forum in London

Domino Mid-Summer BBQ in the car park

Arctic Monkeys – live in a church in Cologne

Richard Hawley’s mini gig at The Fly

Nick Cave’s book reading/gig at The Palace Theatre

Arctic Monkeys at the Zeneth in Paris

Cass McCombs at the Lexington

Animal Collective and others in the year end polls – there is justice!

Domino xmas party – wherever that might be!!

DAN RAPLEY

John Baldessari - ‘Pure Beauty’ (exhibition at Tate Modern)

Animal Collective - ‘Merriweather Post Pavillion’ (album)

Paul Auster - ‘New York Trilogy’ (Novel)

Twin Peaks (season 2)

Philip Glass, generally

Mythologies (group exhibition at Haunch of Venison)

Cannon EOS 50D (digital SLR camera)

Jeff Koons exhibition at Serpentine Gallery

Wild Beasts – ‘Two Dancers’ (album)

Le Tour de France

FIONA GHOBRIAL

The XX - the album (never grow bored of it, every track amazing)

Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes (happiest and most blissed out song of the year)

Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Hysteric (the new Maps, from great album)

These New Puritans - Hidden (EPIC)

The Count & Sinden - MEGA (watching this go off on a dancefloor - insane)

La Roux - In For The Kill (Skream's Let's Get Ravey remix) (best remix of the year, eerily beautiful)

2. the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th president of the United States:

I haven't been this proud to be an American since the Marshall Plan.

3. the Big Star Keep An Eye On The Sky box set (Ardent/Rhino):

I resisted purchasing this for it would have made the third or fourth time of buying the catalog, but I was worn down by the plaudits and constant flow of praise from friends. Now, everyone's getting it from me for Xmas. A masterclass in how to honor a band's legacy.

4. the August 2009 road trip to Chicago with the family:

So much good company, music and food... and I didn't even get to dine at Hot Doug's in spite of two attempts.

5. Catching up with It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia:

The depths they will plum for laughs is just scary, but you laugh just the same... Danny Devito's tour de force performance inhibits the grey area between method acting and insanity but it sure is hilarious.

6. Lee Fields & The Expressions - My World (Truth & Soul)

After forty years in the biz, this soul survivor cranked out his finest work yet... a smoldering collection of r'n'b as sincere and authentic as it gets. Fans of Curtis Mayfield/The Impressions should hightail it to their nearest sound emporium and snap this up.

7. the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm:

The resurrection of Curb this season has been every bit as miraculous as that of Lazarus.

8. Malakai - The Ugly Side Of Love (Invada):

Bristol lads melding the downhill side of the Summer of Love (Kinks/Moby Grape/Badfinger) with the modern psychedelic turntablism of The Avalanches and Portishead with great result.

9. the release of Logic 8

Having stepped away for five or six years from doing anything musical for a variety of reasons and coming back to this has been exhilarating and mindblowing at the same time.

10. the "resignation" of Carl Petersen as president/general manager of The Kansas City Chiefs.

The psychological oppression of semi-annual false hope that fans of Kansas City's professional sports organizations have endured for 25 years has been relentless and cruel. Not to delight in one man's misfortune, but finally there was reason to hope that the first step towards the end of our suffering someday had been taken.

LYNDEN CAMPBELL

90 Degrees (not made this year but I saw it for the first time this year) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mv2SiOEyTg

2) Bunny and the Bull

3) Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee

4) Moon

5) Milk

6) (500) Days of Summer

7) The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

8) Bronson

9) The Lovely Bones

10) Splash (not new but I nostalgically bought on DVD this year)

MATT COOPER

Bill Orcutt "A New Way To Pay Old Debts" (Palilalia)

Lightning Bolt "Earthly Delights" (Load)

Reading Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" at last

Mark Eitzel at St Giles in The Fields / Plush at The King's Head, Crouch End

Watching "The Wire" at last (and the fact that we've not finished yet)

Neko Case "Middle Cyclone" (Anti)

Bill Callahan "Jim Cain" (Drag City)

Danny Baker on The Word podcast

Curb Your Enthusiasm Series 7

Seeing "Le Ballon Rouge" again after about 30 years and walking out into a cinema foyer full of red balloons

That Petrol Emotion live at The Bellhouse, Brooklyn, NY- the band rocked, jumped, wailed and thumped like it was 20 yrs ago. There was kicking of ass AND fun!

Animal Collective live at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY- I got to work their merch booth with my pal Adam and give away posters to fans on a perfect summer night.

Dirty Projectors live with guests The Roots and David Byrne at Bowery Ballroom, Manhattan, NY- It was great from the start. Tune Yards were a pleasant surprise for me as well.

Jesus Lizard live at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza, Manhattan, NY- 15 or so years since I last saw them and Yow is still in your face incredible while being quietly funny.

Tour Managing Max Tundra at SXSW and meeting his Japanese superfan. He spoke to her in Japanese sending her into an ecstatic laughing fit where all she could say was "Oh, Max Tundra! Oh, Max Tundra!" then ran away.

Rainbow Bridge "Big Wave Rider"

Atlas Sound "Walkabout"

Phoenix "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"

Jay Z "Empire State of Mind"

The Big Pink "Dominos"

Stuff that I can't exclude Guest spinning with DJ Mona D on East Village Radio The Beastie Boys reissues Nirvana "Bleach" reissue

Stuff I came to late Q-Tip "The Renaissance" Various "Born Bad Vol 1-7" Robert Wyatt "The EPs"